Serie A giants Juventus are optimistic about their chances of overturning a 15 point deduction in Serie A, thanks to a 'procedural defect.'
Earlier this year, the Old Lady were handed a huge punishment, following an investigation into their finances, which left them way down the table.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, an appeal will allow Juventus to look at a 'secret document' and could lead to a reason to overturn the 15 points deduction.
The report claims that the defence lawyers for the Turin based club could argue around judges backdating the opening of the investigation, meaning some documents would be out of date an unusable.
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The issue relates to a request from COVISOC to the FIGC Prosecutor on April 14, 2021, in which Italy’s Supervisory committee on professional football clubs, asked the FIGC about the potential of inflated transfer prices.
Juve's lawyers would then claim that the proceedings then began on April 21st, giving prosecutors 60 days from then for their research.
That would mean any documents acquired after July 14th of that year wouldn't be valid for the investigation that led to the points deduction.
Juve would use the communication as a big part of their appeal against their punishment, and now they have the chance to use it.
The appeal was actually won by club sporting director Federico Cherubini and predecessor Fabio Paratici, who could still be banned for Tottenham Hotspur.
On the pitch things have not been going well for Juventus either, after they also struggled last season, and only just making it into this season's Champions League.
They were knocked out of the group stages, even losing to Maccabi Haifa as they lost five of their six games, including both home and away to PSG and Benfica.
A revival of form put them right back in the mix to finish in the top four, until they were hit with their points deduction in January, leaving them trailing.
The weekend's defeat to Roma, following Moise Kean's sending off just 40 seconds after he came on, left them in seventh place.
However, if their punishment was overturned they would return to 50 points, level with second place Inter Milan, as Napoli run away with the title.
Ryan Sidle